Road safety: Gendarmerie throws searchlight on truck drivers

In continuation of efforts to drastically reduce the number of fatal accidents on the country's highways, a team from the National Gendarmerie headquarters was the Yaounde-Atok highway on Saturday, May 28, 2016.

Led by Lt. Col. Mboa Guy, road safety officers first set up a checkpoint on May 27, 2016, at Jean Baster in the Centre Region - about 117 km from Yaounde.

The next day, they moved over to Mayos in the East Region, about 140 km from Yaounde. Backed by patrolling gendarmes on motorbikes, Lt. Col. Mboa said the 66th week of road safety campaign focused on traffic offences committed by heavy-duty vehicle drivers. He said the offences were poor fog lights at night and worn-out tyres.

"Last week, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the National Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bokam, directed that an eye be kept on erring truck drivers and tougher sanctions taken against them," he explained.

In implementing the directive, gendarmes discovered that lighting at night was a major problem with many trucks. Such trucks were held back until their lighting was corrected, the gendarmerie officer pointed out. Concerning lorries with worn-out tyres, the drivers were made to pay fines.

"Given the good state of the Yaounde-Bertoua highway, over-speeding is the most common traffic offence committed by motorists," Lt. Col. Mboa Guy noted.

While some erring drivers readily paid their fines, those who were unable had their statements taken and reports forwarded to the local State Counsel for possible prosecution.

As at 12.30 pm May 28, 2016, over 20 over-speeding offences had already been recorded at the Mayos Checkpoint.